Robert Stewart (1788-1834)
}} Life as a soldier Robert Stewart joined the 46th Regiment of Foot as a private in Leeds, Yorkshire on 19 January 1801. Before three months had passed he married Mary Bowman in Leeds on 5 April 1801. Robert was first posted to Ireland and was able to take his wife. It was in Limerick, Ireland, that their first child John Stewart was born in 1802. Robert's wife Mary returned to Robert's home town of Startforth, Yorkshire before their second child, Elizabeth Stewart, was born in 1804. In 1813 orders were given that the 46th Regiment was to proceed to the Colony of New South Wales to relieve the 73rd Regiment. Robert was given permission to bring his wife and two children. (His wife was either newly pregnant or conceived during the voyage.) Part of the regiment embarked on the 23 August 1813 on board the transports "Windham" and "General Hewitt", and arrived at New South Wales in February, 1814. John Stewart, his wife and children were aboard the "Windham" which arrived in Port Jackson on 11 February 1814. The soldiers from north ships were landed on 15 February 1814. More of the 46th Regiment arrived on the "Three Bees" three months later, and others arrived aboard convict transports over the next three years until the 46th was relieved in 1817 by the 48th. On 5 March 1814 Captain John MacKenzie of the 46th received orders from Governor Lachlan Macquarie to proceed to Port Dalrymple (Launceston) in Van Diemans Land (Tasmania) to take take command there. He was to take with him: 1 Lieutenant 3 Sergeants 2 Corporals 1 Drummer 38 Privates 2 Women 2 Children Robert Stewart was one of the 38 privates, his wife Mary was one of the 2 women, and their children John and Elizabeth were the two children. Mary at this stage was heavily pregnant. Captain John MacKenzie was also ordered on 5 March 1814 to sail with his soldiers to Launceston as soon as possible on the colonial schooner "Estramina". On 28 April 1814 Mary was to give birth to their twin boys, Henry and William Stewart, at Launceston. Like many twins the boys were probably born before their due date. Robert was to be posted at Launceston until December 1815 when he was sent with his family back to Sydney aboard the colonial schooner the "Matilda". The 46th Regiment was relieved from their duty in the Colony of New South Wales (which in those days included Tasmania) in 1817 with the arrival in the Colony of the 48th. On 8 September 1817 the 46th Regiment embarked in three divisions at Sydney Cove on board the "Matilda," "Lloyd," and "Dick", and arrived at Madras (Chennai), India on the 16 December 1817. John Stewart was not among them. He had received permission to transfer to the 48th and remain in the Colony. John's fifth child, Thomas Stewart, was born in Sydney in 1819. In February 1824 the 48th Regiment sailed from Sydney Cove, its duty in New South Wales completed. Again Robert Stewart was not among them. He was one of the 21 men from the 48th who was given permission to remain in the Colony on the promise of receiving a 100 acre (40ha) grant of land. In November 1825 John Stewart (spelling his surname "Steward") wrote a memorial to Governor Sir Thomas Brisbane petitioning for his grant of land. He stated that he had a wife and five children, had been in the army for 25 years, had originally been in the 46th Regiment but for the last eight years had been in the 48th. He stated that he needed the land to support his family. On 15 November 1825 John "Steward" was on list of people who had received orders for land grants. Like many soldiers who received land grants, John Stewart was not successful as a farmer, and the grant was sold. John Stewart then supported his family by working as a tailor. In 1832 he had a shop at the corner of Erskine and Sussex Streets in Sydney. John Stewart died on 10 May 1834 in Sydney.